


Courting but with Style

by snapchattingnct



Series: #00FFTOBER [12]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 00fftober, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), M/M, Mythology - Freeform, but with a twist, hades!mark, markhyuck, persephone!hyuck, side Norenmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-16 04:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21264890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapchattingnct/pseuds/snapchattingnct
Summary: Day 12 of #00FFtober, a markhyuck edition.Modern Hades and Persephone. In which Mark tries to coax Hyuck into being the King of the Underworld with him by being his sugar daddy.





	Courting but with Style

**Author's Note:**

> Per Fitzgerald words, “Write drunk; edit sober.” And that’s literally what happened with this monster of a fic. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to write about for this day’s prompt and it took me days before I could come up with anything. This story came to me in the middle of the night while trying to memorize blood vessels and veins for my anatomy exam the next day. And of course, being the oh-so-great student I was, I abandoned my study notes and wrote up a sloppy outline for this story instead. 
> 
> As you can see by the word count, this monster took me quite a few days (ahem, weeks) to get it written. Every chance I’ve gotten over the past week, I've written at least a sentence or two. They definitely weren’t great but I got my ideas down. Editing this was a pain in the ass. So if there are any mistakes or errors that I happened to miss, I apologize beforehand. 
> 
> But honestly speaking though, I’m extremely proud of this and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. 
> 
> (Tried to post this before midnight on Halloween but editing took so long...)

Closing his botany textbook with a huff, Donghyuck flops down onto his bed, phone in hand. 

From across the room, Renjun comments without looking up from his notes, “Giving up already?”

“Yes. I give up. I give up on this class. I give up on school. I’m ready to just become a stripper and have a sugar daddy. Fuck school.”

“Re-fucking tweet.” Renjun exclaimed, nodding his head in agreement as he too gave up on reviewing his notes for their exams tomorrow morning.

“Then retweet it dumbass, I just tweeted the post.” Donghyuck says as he waves his twitter page up in the air to prove that he did. 

Laughing, Renjun immediately opens his twitter app. “You did not just tweet that, Donghyuck.”

“Well I did.” Donghyuck replies back nonchalantly as he watches the way the numbers of retweets and likes increase with each passing second. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Retweet it obviously.”

“You better,” he laughs as he continues to scroll through everyone’s replies on his tweet. Then looking up from his phone, Donghyuck adds, “Or else your best friend card would get revoked.”

Scoffing, Renjun rolls his eyes at Donghyuck’s ridiculous comment. “Like you have any other friends to even pass that card on.”

Donghyuck simply ignores the older boy’s snide, and goes back to reading through all the replies. As he does this though, a notification goes off at the corner of his screen. Someone had sent him a DM. Curious, Donghyuck clicks on his inbox without a second thought. No one really sent him anything besides Renjun. He was a pretty small twitter account aways. He was lucky if he got more than two likes on his tweets. But he guessed that this was the start of him going viral with his amazing tweet.

Opening the message, Donghyuck skims across it and his mouth drops agape at his brain tries registers what he had just read. 

_ ‘Are your sugar daddy applications open? Because I would like to apply.’ _

Unable to contain himself, Donghyuck practically screeches and jumps to his feet, making his way towards Renjun. Then shoving the phone into the latter’s face, he says, “Renjun. Read this.”

“What has your panties in such a ---,” Renjun begins but his words die in his throat as he reads the message on Donghyuck’s phone. Then eyes growing into the size of saucers, Renjun stutters, “W-What the fuck? Who is this person?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Donghyuck says, “How would I know?”

“Well, then click on his profile, dumbass.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know, that’s what I’m doing.”

And when he does, Donghyuck nearly has a heart attack because his potential sugar daddy is fucking cute as hell. 

_ @m.lee _

_ CEO of Lee Corporations.  _

_ Absolutely fully capable.  _

Zooming in on his profile, Donghyuck cries out, “There is no way he’s actually this stinking cute. Like there’s no way. It’s not possible. Not at all.”

“Cute?” Renjun asks incredulously. Snatching the phone from Donghyuck’s hands, he zooms in even further on the profile picture for emphasis. “Hyuck. This man is dead drop motherfucking  _ gorgeous _ .”

Taking his phone back, he hits Renjun on the shoulder. Laughing loudly, he shakes his head. “Don’t let your boyfriends hear that or else they’ll get jealous.”

“Oh, whatever. What they don’t know, won’t hurt them. They aren’t the only cute boys in the world.”

“Hmmm.”

“Well, what are you going to say back?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Donghyuck absentmindedly mumble, “I mean… I am looking for a sugar daddy…”

“Wait, you’re actually going to do it?” Renjun exclaims, eyes wide. “You don’t even know if this person is legit. They could be a serial killer hiding behind a fake identity for all you know.”

“Oh, what is it going to be if I to reply to them.” Donghyuck replies. Then shrugging his shoulders once more, he says, “What harm would it do to reply?”

“Uh, I don’t know. They would stalk you and actually kill you.”

“Okay, not everyone online is some freaky serial killer who’s searching for their next victim.”

“You don’t know that. But whatever,” Renjun says, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. What Donghyuck wants or likes, he always gets so it was pointless to argue with him at this point. Gathering all of his notes and laptop, Renjun begins heading towards the door. Just as he was about to leave though, Renjun turns around and gives Donghyuck a pointed glare. “Don’t come to me crying for help when it turns out to be a actual murder.”

“Hmm, I won’t.” Donghyuck smiles back at him cheekily, his eyes gleaming with mischief. 

As Renjun leaves his room completely, Donghyuck returns his attention back to the message that he has yet to reply back to. Chewing on his bottom lip, Donghyuck fingers began typing back a message.

_ ‘Haha. You’re funny. But yeah, I’m lowkey in the market for a sugar daddy. So I guess applications are open lol.’ _

His thumb hovers over the send button for a moment. He couldn’t believe that he was this crazy right now to be doing this. But they do say, desperate times calls for desperate measures. With that in mind, Donghyuck doesn’t waste another second before his thumb hits send. 

He doesn’t have time to contemplate over his already sent message though when he gets a reply back almost instantly. 

_ ‘What’s the requirements? Where can I fill out a form?’ _

Donghyuck’s mouth falls open for the second time that night. This guy could not be serious.

_ ‘Uhhh. Requirements? I guess to pay for my tuition, rent, food, and other daily living expenses… And I… don’t have an actual form for you to fill out…’ _

_ ‘Oh okay. What’s the total of your expenses for the month?’ _

At this point, Donghyuck could barely comprehend anything that was going on. There was no way on Earth that all of this was happening right now. 

_ ‘Like about 4K…’ _

_ ‘Is this your venmo then?’ _

Donghyuck’s eyes nearly bulges out of their sockets when this complete and total stranger replies back with a screenshot of his venmo profile. He was at a complete loss for words at this point. There was no way this stranger found his venmo account this fast. It wasn’t possible. 

Hands shaking, Donghyuck types back a reply.  _ ‘How did you even find it?’ _

Instead of getting an answer back, Donghyuck nearly faints when the notification banner pops up on his phone. There written across his phone was a pop up from venmo,  _ ‘Mark Lee paid you $6000.00’ _

Donghyuck practically chokes on his own spit as he counts the zeros. “Oh my fucking gosh. This can not be fucking real.”

At that moment, he gets another notification. This time it was just from twitter. 

_ ‘Sent a little extra just in case you have any other expenses you forgot to factor in :) Let me know if you need more. Now study and sleep well! I know that you probably have classes tomorrow.’ _

Rubbing his eyes, Donghyuck blinks a few times before rereading the message over and over again. He couldn’t believe what just happened actually happened. First off, this random ass stranger just sent him six  _ thousand  _ fucking dollars without even batting a single lash. Second of all, don’t sugar daddy ask for  _ stuff  _ first and then you get paid? Donghyuck was so confused because he didn’t do anything and this man just sent him all this money. 

Fingers flying across his keyboard, he types out,  _ ‘...thanks? Uh… also, I don’t this is how having a sugar daddy works… but aren’t I supposed to like… I don’t know… do stuff to get paid…?’ _

And Donghyuck promptly dies at the reply that he got in return. 

_ ‘Nah, you’re good. Just think of it as a sugar daddy without the sugar ;)’  _

. 

When Donghyuck wakes up the next morning and gets ready for class, he still can’t wrap his head around what had happened last night. He was sure that it was all a dream. It had to be, Donghyuck thought. There was no way something like that happened. It just wasn’t possible. But as he bids Renjun goodbye and heads out the door that morning, Donghyuck decides to check his bank account out of curiosity. He was expecting to see the sad account balance of $28.10 but that was definitely not what he saw. Because there, reflecting back at him was his checking account, sitting with six zeros. 

Completely taken aback, Donghyuck almost missed the last step of the stairs. “What the actual fuck?” As he said that though, a notification from venmo popped up across his screen again, reading  _ ‘Mark Lee paid you $20.00 - Coffee’s on me! Good luck on your exam :)’ _

“Oh my fucking god. This can not be real.” Donghyuck mumbles as he goes through last night messages. But as he reads through them, he can’t help but smile when he realized that it wasn’t a dream. And that was actually all real. 

With his spirits lifted and knowing that he wasn’t the broke college student he once was anymore, Donghyuck treated himself to a regular sized coffee with extra pumps of caramel. 

.

Mark can’t help but let a smile slip onto his face as he drops in phone back down on the table. As he replays Donghyuck’s last few messages in his head, his smile simply widens. So caught up in all the things that is Donghyuck, Mark doesn’t notice his incoming visitor. 

Mark is shaken out of his daze when the said person clears his throat and says, “Didn’t think that you would have that great of service down here.”

Making eye contact with his said visitor, he merely shrugs his shoulders, and smile still present on his face. “It’s decent enough.”

“Decent enough my ass,” Johnny comments. Then rolling his eyes, he adds, “Because having signal thousands of feet underground is  _ decent. _ I barely have any signal to send Ten anything when I’m down here.”

“I may or may not have bribed Jungwoo into building me my own personal cell tower in the palace when he last came to visit me.”

“Wait,” Johnny says, holding his hands up in the air, pausing for a moment as he tried to comprehend what Mark had just said. Blinking owlishly, he asks, “You’re telling me you have an actual cell tower here?”

Mark just nods. 

Scrambling for his phone, Johnny leaves the room just as fast as he arrives, exclaiming, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could have been texting Ten this whole damn time instead of making small talk to you.”

“Well, you never asked.” Mark says, laughing at Johnny’s retreating back. 

.

“Hey, Renjun, can you take me to the art show after our lecture today?” Donghyuck asks him as he munchies on a muffin one day. 

Ever since Mark had become his sugar daddy, life was great. Actually it was more than great. It was fucking fantastic. He didn’t have to work overtime at the bookstore to savage enough money for rent and tuition. It wasn’t a struggle anymore to budget on groceries and he didn’t have to go a whole day on a tiny apple. 

With the constant money that Mark sent, Donghyuck was living the life. Rent and tuition was paid in advance and in full. He had breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. 

The boy beside him simply shakes his head, saying, “Sorry. I can’t. It’s Jeno’s big presentation today and I promised that I would be there with Jaemin to support him.” As he mindlessly scrolls away on his phone, Renjun asks, “Have you asked Yangyang or Lucas?”

“Yeah, I did.” Donghyuck sighs. Showing Renjun all their text messages in the group chat, Donghyuck pouts. “They all have plans with their boyfriends too. Ugh, it’s a sad life to be single. I wished I had a boyfriend too.”

Pocketing his phone, Renjun gave him a pointed look. “Well, you may not have a boyfriend but you do have a sugar daddy, Hyuck. Why don’t you ask Mark to take you?”

Eyes widening, Donghyuck whips around to face the older boy. Then exclaiming, “I can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“We’ve never met before. Like face to face. What happens if he’s an actual killer that’s out for blood. He could kill me! Also, he works a corporate jobs. I highly doubt that he has time to be my personal Uber.”

“Okay, what you just said makes absolutely no sense.” Renjun comments before he begins listing off reasonable points. “First off, we already confirmed that Mark is not a serial killer or some stalking creep. He works a nine to five office job, raking in millions with each passing second that we’re spending talking to each other right now. Second of all, dude is his own boss. I think that he can spare a couple minutes to take you to some art exhibit downtown.”

Clenching his hands together nervously, Donghyuck shakes his head. “I don’t know…”

“Oh, come on. Don’t be a scary cat, Hyuck. Just ask him. We’re literally talking about the guy who casually venmos you thousands of dollars when he’s freaking bored. I highly doubt that a free ride is going to be that big of a request.” 

“I mean, I guess that you have a point there…”

Scoffing, Renjun flicks his bangs out of his face. Tone full of sass, he says, “I always have a point.”

Unable to resist the urge to roll his eyes, Donghyuck bites back, “But, if this falls through and Mark ends up hating me. You're going to have to suffer my wrath because your idea just cost me my current income.”

“Oh, please. You have enough money to live a more than comfortable life with the amount that he has sent you in the past month.” 

.

When the professor continues to drone on and on about the beauty of photosynthesis, Donghyuck decides that it was the perfect moment to ask Mark. 

Slipping his phone out of his pocket, Donghyuck hides it behind his laptop screen, pretending to be taking notes on his computer. Then opening up the blue app, he types up a quick message and hit send before he even has time to reconsider the request.

Per usual, Mark replies back almost instantly. Hiding a small smile behind the palm of his hand, Donghyuck watches as the three dots appear at the bottom of his screen. 

_ ‘Yeah, sure! What time and where is your last class?’ _

Releasing the breath that he didn’t know that he was holding, Donghyuck finger’s dance across his keyboard as he sends back a quick reply. 

_ ‘Omg, seriously? You’re the best. But in like 35 minutes and I’ll be in the biology building on campus. Do you know where that is? I’ll meet you right at the entrance.’ _

_ ‘Biology? Yeah, I think I know where that is? I’ll meet you there.’ _

For the rest of the lecture, Donghyuck was barely able to swipe the dumb and blissed out smile off of his lips. This earned him a few strange looks from Renjun but he didn’t care, because  _ the  _ Mark Lee was coming to pick him up after class. 

.

“So what did Mark say?” Renjun asks him the moment that the professor dismissed the class. Matching Donghyuck’s quick pace, he also shoves everything into his bag without much care. Zipping it up, he adds, “Seeing how you  _ literally  _ could not stop smiling like a whole idiot for the entire class, I’m assuming that he said yes.”

True to his words, the smile on Donghyuck’s lips simply widens as he brings up Mark. Shrugging his shoulders, Donghyuck says, “Guess you’ll just have to see.”

“Oh my gosh. Quit trying to be subtle because you are anything but subtle Lee Donghyuck and we both know that.” Then tugging on Donghyuck’s sleeves, he whines, “Just tell me already Hyuck. The suspense is  _ killing  _ me.”

Rolling his eyes, Donghyuck tugs his sleeve out from Renjun’s grasp. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

And before Renjun can fire back, the sound of excited whispers and giggles reached their ears. Eyebrows raised, Renjun shared a confused look with Donghyuck before muttering, “What the hell…?”

As they turn towards the direction of the all the loud commotion, Donghyuck felt his whole body freeze on spot as he made eye contact with none other than Mark Lee himself. 

Beside him, Renjun had his mouth wide open as his mind tried to catch up on all that was happening. Then turning towards his best friend, he yanked him down by his backpack straps, whispering harshly into his ear, “Okay, what the fuck? I didn’t actually think that he would show up to campus in person.”

Whispering back just as fiercely, Donghyuck said, “I honestly thought that he was gonna bail on me or send like his own personal driver. Rich people do that kind of thing, you know.”

“Well whatever because your sugar daddy is here,” Renjun teased. Then pushing him towards the exit, he motions for Donghyuck to move along. “You shouldn’t keep him waiting. Because he’s responsible for our rent and I would very much like to keep the roof that we have over our heads for as long as possible.”

When Donghyuck lifts his head again, he sees Mark lifting his hand to wave at him with a smile present on his face. Gulping, Donghyuck plasters on a timid smile and returns the wave to which Mark beams even brighter if possible. 

As he walked towards to where Mark was waiting for him, Donghyuck took this moment to really look at Mark. 

The first thing that came to Donghyuck’s mind was that the man’s profile pictures and the few selfies that were exchanged between the two of them did not do him justice because the man was  _ beautiful.  _ Mark wasn’t that much taller than him but his legs seemed never ending in those tailored dress pants of his, making him appear so much taller than he actually was. The black suit clung to his body like a second-skin and Donghyuck just knew that Mark must have liked to hit the gym at least three times a week based on how his back muscles rolled when he reached for something within his car. 

For someone who was the chief executive officer of a multi-billionaire company, Mark had the kindest eyes and he just radiated about everything sweet. It was hard to see him as the business savvy and mind controlling corporate giant that he was supposed to be. The man looked like he couldn’t even hurt a fly. 

Once he was within reach, Mark immediately grasped his wrist and pushed a warm coffee into his hand. Sending him a wink, he said, “Figured you might need a little pick me up after your long lecture.”

It took nearly every fiber in his body to not faint right there on the spot. Donghyuck was pretty sure that his face was burning red but he tried to play it off. Stuttering out, he mumbled a small thanks. 

“No problem.” Mark told him as he reached behind him to open the passenger side for Donghyuck. 

He wordlessly took Donghyuck’s belongings from him and waited for him to get in before closing the door. Depositing everything in the trunk of his car, he returned to the driver’s seat not a moment later. 

Revering the engine to life, Mark asked him, “So, how was your day?”

Still recovering from the shock of all of Mark’s action, it took Donghyuck a moment to even notice the fact that he had asked him a question. 

He had never had anyone treat him the way that Mark had. No had ever carried his things for him. And definitely no one had held the door open for him. It was such a gentleman move and Donghyuck couldn’t help but feel that he was falling hard for this man. 

When he noticed that Mark was still holding his gaze, Donghyuck finally realized that the man had actually asked him something and it wasn’t just the commotion coming from outside. Shaking out of his daze thoughts, Donghyuck mumbled embarrassed, “Uh… did you say something?”

His laugh ringing out throughout the car, Mark merely shook his head. Smiling, he shifted the car into drive and began to make his way out of the campus. “I was just asking how did your day go?”

“Oh.” Donghyuck nodded. Then taking a sip of the coffee in his hand to brush away his embarrassment, he said, “It wasn’t too bad, I guess. How about you?”

Mark shrugged his shoulders and gave him yet another smile before saying, “Just the usual but it just got more interesting now though.”

At his words, Donghyuck wanted the car’s seat to swallow him alive because this whole ordeal was so embarrassing. He did not expect Mark to be this forward from the start and in person. 

Seeing that Donghyuck was getting a bit uncomfortable, Mark laughed and switched the topic. Fingers flying across the GPS system of his car, he asked, “You wanted to go to the new art exhibit downtown right? The Neo Gallery?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck nodded. “It’s by the riverfront, right off the ramp.”

“Hmm, I know.” Then sneaking a look at Donghyuck out of the corner of his eye, Mark added very nonchalantly, “I own it.”

It takes Donghyuck all about a second before his brain fully processes Mark’s words and before he chokes on his coffee. Coughing repeatedly, he wheezes out, “You  _ own  _ Neo Gallery?”

Mark nods.

“Oh my gosh. What don’t you own in this city?”

Appearing to think hard on the question, Mark lists a few things off his hand. “There’s quite a bit that I don’t own actually. Like the new casino, the national bank, the boba shop off the highway near your campus, the gym on the other side of town...”

“But you still own like ninety percent of the city.”

“It’s more like eighty nine percent but yeah you can say that.”

“Oh, so modest.” Donghyuck couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Mark’s correction because like the one percent difference was so great. 

“I try to be.” 

.

The moment Mark had appeared beside him in the gallery after parking his car, the lady that was ringing Donghyuck out for his ticket nearly had a mental breakdown. “Mr. Lee! W-what can I help you with today?”

Mark sends his usual smile towards her direction, saying, “I have a special guest that wanted to view the artworks today.”

“O-oh.” The receptionist as she notices the endearing look that Mark has on his face as he gazes down at Donghyuck. Putting one and one together, she suddenly lets a squeak, “It’s no charge, Sir. My apologies.” Hastily canceling the whole transaction, she thrusted Donghyuck’s credit card back into his hand. Then turning to face Mark, she asked nervously, “Would you like me to close down the gallery to the public, Mr. Lee?”

Shaking his head, Mark reaches for Donghyuck’s hand, interwinding their fingers together before saying. “That won’t be needed but thank you. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

Once they were out of earshot, Donghyuck couldn’t help but bust out in laughter. Shoulders shaking uncontrollably and with tears forming in his eyes, he gave Mark’s arm a light punch. “Oh my gosh. Did you see her face? I thought that she was going to faint on the spot if we stayed a minute longer.”

Mark laughed along with the younger boy, nodding in agreement. “Hm, I don’t really pay many visits to my side properties. They’re lucky if they see my face once a year.”

Raising a single eyebrow, Donghyuck asked. “Wait, why did you buy this place if you don’t even visit it?” Turning on his heels to look around at all the artwork put on displayed before him, Donghyuck couldn’t help but frown. “That’s so sad. All of these breath-taking artwork in this place and no one wants to look at them.”

“There’s plenty of people who come in here on the daily to look at these pieces.”

“Yeah, but you don’t. And I think that’s sad. For someone who doesn’t have any passion for art to be the owner of a gallery full of them.”

Offended, Mark tugs on Donghyuck’s hand, bringing the attention back to him. “Hey, who said that I never have any passion for the arts.”

“Well, could have fooled me.” Donghyuck huffs. Spreading his arms wide, he waves it over all the artwork in the room, saying, “You don’t even visit this place.”

“That’s because I don’t have as much time as I want to in order to come down here.” Mark sighs. “Just because I don’t have time to come visit it, doesn’t mean that I don’t like it. I’ll let you know that the arts are a huge part of my life.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Donghyuck mumbles, still not convinced. 

“Well,” Mark begins, his fingers tightening around Donghyuck’s hands. Then with a smile on his lips, he says with a wink, “I guess I’ll have to make more time for it since you seem to love it so much. 

The tips of Donghyuck’s ears burns at Mark’s words, understanding the message’s meaning clearly. He knows that his hands are starting to become clammy from the nerves so Donghyuck tries to tug his hand from the older’s grasp but it’s to no avail because Mark just holds on even tighter. Not letting him break free, Mark brings him close and begins making his away towards the art pieces with a blushing Donghyuck in tow. 

.

“Ugh, I still can’t believe that you own this whole gallery and you don’t spare any time to visit it.” Donghyuck sighs regretfully. Tossing him a pointed look, he adds, “It’s such a waste.”

“Yes, I know.” Mark replies. “You’ve told me that multiple times in the past hour, Donghyuck.”

As they make their way towards the end of the gallery, Mark pulls on Donghyuck’s arm gently. When Donghyuck turned around to face him with a confused look, Mark pointed to the metal stairs right outside the gallery. Tilting his head towards it, he said, “This is the end, but I want to show you something else before we leave.” 

“Wait, there’s more?” Donghyuck’s eyes are gleaming as he begins making his way towards the metal staircase. Taking the steps two at a time, he says excitedly, “I can’t believe that you have more! How much artwork did you buy that you ran out of room to display them in here?”

Shaking his head, Mark tells him. “It’s not more artwork.” 

“No?” Donghyuck stops in his tracks, pausing at the top of the staircase, confusion maring his features. 

“No.” Mark nods. “But I think I’ll be something you’ll like though.”

“How would you know that?”

Throwing a wink in Donghyuck’s direction, Mark smiles. “I think I would know, judging how I cover for all of your expenses. Trust me, I see all those charges at the greenhouse down the block from your apartment.”

Feeling a bit sheepish, Donghyuck pushes forward, leaving Mark behind. As he took the rest of the stairs two at a time, he made it to the rooftop in seconds. The sight that he came to see took his breath away. 

There, in the dead center of the city, on top of the art gallery was the most beautiful garden that Donghyuck had ever laid his eyes on. Words couldn’t possibly describe it. 

Flowers and plants that he had only dreamed of seeing in his sleep were all present right before him. Even ones that he would read about in his botany textbooks were all there. It was unreal. But those were nothing in comparison to the patches of sunflowers in the center of the garden. Running towards it, his hands immediately reached out to caress their vibrant, yellow petals. Thumbing it in a delicate manner, Donghyuck breathed them in, relishing in their sweet scent. His heart felt at ease as he did so. Donghyuck has never felt so  _ alive  _ until now. 

“This place is beautiful. How did you even manage to get all of these plants here? It’s like the middle of fall but they’re still in full bloom.” 

Coming to stand beside him, Mark also reached out to touch the sunflowers before him. “I’ve had some help.”

Mark watched the way that Donghyuck’s eyes shone even brighter than the sun as the boy continued to caress the flowers, hugging them to his chest. He also noticed the way that the sunflowers seemed to lean into his direction, more so than the actual sun itself like they were supposed to. And it was in this moment that he knew that his assumptions were correct. There was no other person in the entire universe that would have that same effect as the boy beside him had.

Donghyuck was the person that he’s been searching for all his life. 

And Mark couldn’t help but match Donghyuck’s blinding smile as he came to this conclusion. 

.

Every since Mark had shown Donghyuck the rooftop garden, he’s been sending flowers to the apartment every day without fail. 

Donghyuck hears Renjun’s loud voice echo through their thin walls. His tone full of amusement. “Hyuckie! Your sugar daddy sent you flowers again!”

Rolling his eyes, he hops from his desk and makes his way out into the living room. On his way, passing by the sofa, Donghyuck grabs one of their decorative pillows and chucks it at the older boy. “Keep your voice down, asshole. The whole damn floor can hear you.”

Easily ducking to evade the incoming pillow that Donghyuck had thrown at him, Renjun just laughs. Handing the bouquet of flowers over, he teases, “What? Embarrassed for the world to know that you have a sugar daddy? It’s not that embarrassing, Hyuck.”

“No. It’s just not anyone’s business to know. Privacy man…”

“Privacy my ass.” Renjun scoffs. Flopping down on the sofa, he gives Donghyuck a knowing look. “The whole street knows that you have a sugar daddy without me spilling anything, dummy. Mark comes by at least twice a week to drop you off from your classes or to take you to an expensive dinner date. He comes around in his expensive ass luxury car and his equally expensive suit. They can add one and one together.” 

Donghyuck simply ignores the older boy’s mini rant and focuses his attention on the bouquet he had in his arms. It seemed like Mark had upgraded the bouquet again because this one was three times the size of the one he got earlier this week. Looking around the apartment, Donghyuck smiled at the sight of flowers covering every possible surface that they had. Then looking back at the one in his arms, Donghyuck wasn’t quite sure where he was going to even put this one. 

Mark had picked out sunflowers for him again, his favorites. They were all in full bloom, their petals were a vibrant yellow, brighter than ever. Then scattered amongst them were tiny, white baby breaths. It was beautiful. As always, Mark had always made sure to include a small handwritten note. And this time, it was no exception. 

_ ‘Don’t fall asleep during lecture. - m.l.’ _

Currently not as cute as the ones he had received before, but he’ll take it.

.

Bidding Renjun goodbye, Donghyuck hollers back at him, “Enjoy your dinner with your boyfriends, you traditor!” 

“I said I was sorry, Hyuck!” Renjun shouts back at him. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest, asking for mercy. “I promise that I’ll cancel our Friday movie nights just this once.”

“Lies! I’ve heard that sad excuse so many times before.”

“I’ll make it up to you! Now get home safely! Text me when you get home!” 

With that being the last of the conversation, Donghyuck watches with a smile on his face as Renjun turns around in the other direction and starts running. Donghyuck stands there, at the bottom of the library’s staircase, watching Renjun’s retreating figure until it completely disappears from sight. It was only then that he decided that it was time for him to start heading home as well. Untangling his earbuds from his pocket, Donghyuck puts his music on shuffle, his head bobbing along to the beat. 

They were deep into the middle of fall now, bordering on winter. It was chilly but not freezing just quite yet. As a cool breeze rustled through, Donghyuck pulled his denim jacket closer around his body, trying to keep his body warm. Shoving his hands into his pocket, Donghyuck began to pick up the pace. He knew that it was only going to get colder as the night progresses. 

Halfway through his walk, when his nose burned and his eyes watered from the cold, Donghyuck felt an unnerving chill run down his spine. Whipping his head around, his eyes searched for the source of his uneasiness. But to his surprise, he found none. The road was completely empty, not a single soul in sight. It was just him. 

Frowning, Donghyuck turned back around. He had sworn that he felt a set of eyes on the back of his head. Then shaking his head, he blamed it on his serious paranoia. But then, just to be sure, he turned the volume to his music down a notch, holding his phone tight in his hand. 

With each passing second, Donghyuck felt more and more on edge. His palms were starting to sweat so much that he was having trouble gripping his phone. When he turned around the corner, he felt the unsettling feeling of someone drilling holes into the back of his head again, matched with the sound of loud footsteps. That was when he knew that he was being followed. 

Unlocking his phone immediately, he frantically types out a message to Renjun but only to stop halfway. He couldn’t possibly text Renjun in the middle of his date with his boyfriends, not to mention the boy was on the other side of town. Mentally groaning, Donghyuck raked his mind for who else he could contact. Who could be available at this hour? And could get to him instantly if he really was going to be murdered out here in the middle of the street. 

Then as a notification popped up on his phone from twitter and the footsteps behind him started to speed up, Donghyuck didn’t waste another second before he sent a message to Mark.

_ ‘SOS!!! Please come and save me. Corner of Stratford and Pleasant Ave. Pls!’ _

It didn’t take more than a second for the message to pop up as read. Donghyuck thanked his lucky stars that Mark was always on his phone. As the three little dots popped up at the bottom of the screen, he waited anxiously for Mark’s reply. Biting his nails, Donghyuck decided to pick up his pace too, wanting to distance himself as much as possible from the person behind him. 

He watched as the three little dots continue to dance at the bottom of his screen. Mumbling under his breath, “Come on… please reply…”

Then just as quick as the dots appeared, they disappeared just as fast, replacing it with an incoming call from Mark himself. And Donghyuck has never answered a phone call so fast in his life. 

“Hello?” 

_ ‘Hyuck? You okay?’ _

“Oh, hey, Mark.” Donghyuck listened as the footsteps behind him falter for a split second. Breathing out heavily, he tried to come up with something to say to Mark without alerting his follow. His actions caught Mark’s attention immediately based on how he heard the older boy cease all of his movements. 

_ ‘Hey, you didn’t answer my question. Are you okay, Hyuck?’ _

“Um, no?”

_ ‘Wait, what? Hyuck, I’m being serious. What’s wrong?’ _

Cupping the phone closer to his mouth, Donghyuck whispered, “Um… I think someone is following me…”

_ ‘What?’ _

“I said ---”

_ ‘Yeah. No. I heard you the first time. At you still at the corner of Stratford like you sent me earlier?’ _

He shook his head. Then lowering his voice, Donghyuck said, “I’m on the street before my apartment complex, Gray Road.”

_ ‘Okay, I’m coming. Just stay on the phone with me.’ _

“That was the plan anyways,” Donghyuck replies, laughing dryly. As he did this, he heard footsteps quicken all of the sudden, making his heart drop. Blood thundering his ears, he gripped onto the phone even tighter. Breathing becoming increasingly labored, Donghyuck whispered, “Please hurry…”

_ ‘I know, Hyuck. I’m coming. Just wait for me. I got you.’ _

Mark’s words were little assurance though once the sound of the pounding footsteps reached his ears. Breaking out into a sprint, Donghyuck paid no heed in trying to be subtle anymore as he tried to increase the distance between him and the person behind him as much as possible. In seconds, Mark’s frantic calls out to him were nothing but lost words to the wind. 

Donghyuck didn’t just run. Donghyuck fucking ran as if his life depended on it. And at the rate that the situation was escalating, his life  _ was _ on the line. 

Adrenaline pumped through his veins, coursing through his body like ice, numbing him completely. His heart hammered in his chest so hard that he felt like it was going to pop out of his chest any second now. And his lungs burned. Oh, they burned so much. They burned and yearned for him to stop, to give them the oxygen that they desperately needed. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. 

His feet ghosted the hard pavement as he flew down the street. Spotting an alleyway at the end, Donghyuck headed straight for it. It surely wasn’t the best choice at the point at the moment but it wasn’t like he had another option either. His apartment complex was still so far away. 

As he made the turn into the alleyway, Donghyuck nearly screamed as his body collided with someone. But as soon as he felt a familiar set of hands wrap themselves around his body, Donghyuck slumped into the person in defeat and breath of relief falling from his lips. 

He was safe. 

Gasping for air, Donghyuck returned the embrace just as tightly, his hand still gripping onto his phone even after Mark had already ended the call. Trying to close the distance between the two of them as much as possible, Donghyuck buried his face into Mark’s chest. Shoulders heaving up and down as he tried to regain his breath, he felt Mark’s hand come up to comb through his messy and sweaty hair. 

Listening to the way that the older’s heart was hammering as equally hard as his own, Donghyuck figured that he had sprinted all the way over here too. But then as his mind pondered on that fact for a moment, Donghyuck frowned. Last time he checked, Mark was also on the other side of town. He didn’t live anywhere remotely close to Donghyuck. So how did he get to him so fast, on foot too? 

As he opened his mouth to voice his curiosity, Mark had beat him to it. But Mark didn’t direct his words to Donghyuck though. Instead it was directed to the person that was the cause of all of this. 

“What is your business, demon? Last time I checked, your position does not require you to enter into the world above.”

“My Lord, my apologies. But I was hired to complete a mission in this world.” 

_ This world?  _ Donghyuck wasn’t sure if he was being delusional from all the running he had done but he was sure that he heard them correctly. Sneaking a peek from where he was in Mark’s tight embrace, he was shocked to see a heavily cloaked figure kneeling before them on the ground. Speechless, Donghyuck blinked his eyes a couple times, trying to clear his vision. But even after he opened his eyes again, he still saw the cloaked figure.  _ What the actual fuck? _

“Who hired you?”

The cloaked figure remain mum. 

Donghyuck felt Mark’s anger spike from the way his hold on Donghyuck tightened ever so slightly. And when he spoke again, Donghyuck felt his blood run cold. 

In a tone that was unrecognizable to Donghyuck’s ears, Mark bit out. “ _ Who  _ hired you, you lowly demon?”

“I apologize, My Lord. But that is classified information that I can not expose.”

“Who is it you serve, you lowly demon. Is it, I, Mark Lee, The King of the Underworld, or another being?”

Mark continued to drill his follower questions after question but they weren’t always answered. The words that were exchanged between the two males were nothing but gibberish to Donghyuck’s ears. He couldn’t understand anything that they were saying. 

Lords, Gods, Kings, demons, orders, and worlds? 

Nothing made sense.

Donghyuck didn’t understand why they were talking in such mystical terms. They talked as if such magical beings and their magic existed in this world. Just when he couldn’t think it got anymore crazier, he heard the guy mumble a quiet an apology before he made a glowing staff appear out of thin air. Then he charged at them with a crazed murderous look in his eyes. 

Suppressing the scream that was threatening to rip from his throat, Donghyuck squeezed his eyes tight and buried his face deep into Mark’s chest. Hands clutching onto the front of Mark’s pressed suit, he prayed that this was just one of his delirious dreams. 

But it wasn’t. 

He felt Mark’s hold on him tighten as he chanted in a foreign language. As the last word fell from Mark’s lips, Donghyuck felt a chill run down his spine as a piercing scream reached his ears. Unable to stop himself, he opened his eyes to find the source of the pained scream, only to find that it came from his stalker. From where the man was poised and ready to charge at them with the intent to kill, the man was now bound to the ground with three blood-hounds surrounding him. But that wasn’t what took Donghyuck by surprise the most. No, it was the ropes that held him captive. They were burning with black flames, glowing a vibrant blue in the night. 

Eyes growing wide, Donghyuck pushed against Mark’s chest, stumbling out of his hold. “What the fuck?” Eyes looking back and forth between Mark and the stalker, he tried to search for a possible explanation for what he was seeing. But nothing was adding up. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I can explain.” Mark coaxed him, trying to pull him back into his arms. “Just don’t freak out.”

“Don’t freak out?” Donghyuck laughed dryly. Shaking his head, he added, “I think it’s a little too late for that warning because I am most definitely freaking out. I hope that you have a good explanation for what I’m seeing because I know for a fact that I am not tripping over acid or any kind of haullicants.” 

“I’ll explain everything. I promise.” 

“Well, you better because ---”

“My Lord, you have called for us?”

Donghyuck’s jaw dropped as two heavily cloaked figures mistified out of thin air. Rubbing the palm of his hands against his eyes, he blinked a few times to clear his vision. But when he opened his eyes again, the two cloaked figures were still there, kneeling with their heads bowed before Mark. Eyes immediately catching Mark’s gaze, Donghyuck had a million questions ready to spill from his lips. Mark simply sent him a wink and a silent promise that he will explain everything later on. 

And then his playful composure dropped almost instantly as Mark turned his attention to the newcomers. Tone full of authority, he commanded, “Take him to the Great Hall and lock him up. He will await trial with the council and pay for his actions. He is to be stripped of his current titles completely. He will suffer the consequences of his betrayal to the realm and his King.” 

“Yes, My Lord.” 

In seconds, the two guards caught a hold of the trashing man and teleported out of sight, not leaving a single trace that they were ever there in the first place. The only thing that indicated that anything had happened were the fact that the three blood-hounds were still present. To Donghyuck’s surprise, their fierce nature had disappeared as well. Instead they were nothing but a set of happy and excited dogs bounding towards him, asking for belly rubs and ear scratches. Behind him, he heard Mark’s laugh rang out into the night as the dogs gave him sloppy kisses all over his face and hands. 

After a while, Mark saw that Donghyuck was not putting much of a fight against the dogs, as he was now laying on the ground as the dogs crowded around him, continuing their battle for affection. Seeing that he was in need of some rescuing, Mark blew out a whistle, catching his dogs attention immediately. “Alright, Cerberus, that’s enough now.” 

The dogs all perked up at Mark’s command, letting out a small whimper as their fun was ended. Obediently, though they all trailed over to Mark’s side. 

What happened next had Donghyuck confused on so many levels. 

There right before his eyes, he watched as the dogs huddle together side by side. And then in an instant, they all merged into one, until there was just one little pupper. The only thing that was strange about it was the fact that it had  _ three _ heads, all barking happily at Mark.

With his mouth agape, Donghyuck watched as Mark bent down and gathered the three headed dog in his arms, his hands petting each other their heads with so much affection. 

“Okay. That’s it. I’m going crazy.” Donghyuck mumbled out loud, eyes going back and forth from the creature in Mark’s arms and to Mark’s face. Unable to stop himself, he blurted, “Are you going to magically turn into a troll or something too? Are you even human?”

Laughing at Donghyuck’s astonished face, Mark simply shook his head before replying, “No and yes.” 

“Wait,  _ what? _ ”

Tugging on Donghyuck’s hand, Mark said. “Come on. Let’s get you something to eat and I’ll explain everything to you.”

Slowly getting to his feet, Donghyuck hesitantly slipped his hand into Mark’s. “Okay… the only reason that I’m not running away as far as I can right now is because you’re offering food and I’m curious…”

.

“So, let me get this right.” Donghyuck began, his mouth full of food. Then taking a sip of his water, he eyed the three headed dog, whose name was actually Cerberus, that was chilling in his lap for a split second. “You, Mark Lee, is the God of the Underworld. Who is also named Hades. Which means that you’re also you’re their King. The King of all things dead and keeper of all souls.”

“Yes.” Mark nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly with everything that Donghyuck was saying. 

“But you’re also the CEO of Lee Corporations. Which is just a facade that you use to live in the human world. But the company is real.”

“Yes.” 

“And the reason that you wanted to be my sugar daddy was because you thought that it would be a great way to court me, a human, Lee Donghyuck, into ruling the Underworld with you.” 

“Yes and no. You’re not completely human.” Mark explained. As Donghyuck opened his mouth to protest, Mark shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

“Okay, I can believe everything you just told me but there’s absolutely no way that I’m not human. Trust me, I would know if I wasn’t.”

“If you believe every single word that I just said, why can’t you believe that you’re one of us. That you’re just like me. It can’t be that unbelievable.” 

“Then explain to me how I don’t have any powers.” Donghyuck countered, a haughty expression adorning his face. He knew that Mark couldn’t have a valid argument against that because Donghyuck didn’t have any powers. He was just a normal college student struggling to get his life together and figured out. 

“Well, you do. They’re just dormant until you activate them.” 

“You’re crazy.”

Letting out a chuckle, Mark shook his head. Donghyuck could be so stubborn when he wanted to be. And right now was no exception. Placing his hand on top of Donghyuck’s, Mark held his gaze. “I’m serious. You’re the next host of Persephone’s spirit.”

Brows furrowing together, Donghyuck muttered out, “Isn’t she like … a goddess? Last time I checked, I’m still a guy.” 

Once again Mark bursted out in fits of laughter at Donghyuck’s response. This caused Donghyuck to be even more confused. He really didn’t understand what was so funny about all of this. And he did not like to be kept out of the loop nor being laughed at. 

After Mark had calmed down from his laughing fits, he said, “Yes, she was. But her hosts and recarinations aren’t always females. They can be males too. Although, this would be the first time in centuries that Persephone’s host is a male.” 

“I still don’t believe you, but okay.” 

Sighing, Mark leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. “Okay, fine. Then let me ask you this. Why do you love being outside in nature so much? Why do you love gardening so much? You say that when you’re surrounded by nature, you feel reenergized and  _ alive _ . Why is that?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Donghyuck said. “I don’t know. I just do.” Then rubbing one of Cerberus’s ears, he added, “It’s hard to explain.”

“Well, it’s not. It’s because you’re Persephone’s host and it makes perfect sense for you to love nature the way you do. For you to love gardening the way you do. For you to love flowers, especially  _ sunflowers,  _ the way you do. You’re Persephone’s host, who is the great goddess of spring and nature. And the Queen of the Underworld.” 

Donghyuck allowed all that Mark said to sink in for a moment. It was a lot to take in but he thought about it. He thought about the surge of happiness he got each and every time he tended to his small garden on the balcony of the apartment. He thought about the way that just being near a potted plant calms his nerves down when he was overly tense or anxious. He thought about how he hardly had to put in any effort to keep any plants he grew alive. Lots of people have always commented on how he had a green thumb, but in all honesty, he wasn’t that great of a gardner. Sometimes he would forget to water his plants for a couple of days on end but they have never died on him. If anything, when he came around, they got even greener and more in bloom. 

“Okay… you have a point there.” Donghyuck agreed. “If that’s the case and what you’re saying is seriously, one hundred percent true, then when do I come down to rule the Underworld with you?”

Taken aback by how quick it had taken for Donghyuck to come around, Mark nearly choked on his drink. “Wait, what? You agree just like that? Are you sure?” Setting his drink back down on the table and clearing his throat, he added, “Because I had a whole grand plan of asking you, including a fancy horse carriage and thousands of flowers and all that good stuff.” 

“Nah, I’m good.” Donghyuck smiled. Then throwing a wink at Mark, he said, “I think you did a good enough job of courting me, sugar daddy.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/snapchattingnct/status/1171284194196111360?s=20) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/snapchattingnct)


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